Following two road losses, the Miami Heat host the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday in Game 3 of the first-round series in the NBA playoffs. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, which makes this one a must-win game for Miami.
Bookmaker BetOnline has the odds at +105 for the Heat to win the game and at -125 for the Bucks to notch another victory while the over/under is set at 226 points.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 26th, 8:00 P.M. (EST)
The Heat were very close to starting off the series with a win in Game 1 when they went neck to neck with the Bucks only to suffer heartbreak in overtime with a Khris Middleton game-winner in the final second of play.
It was a big opportunity lost for the Heat at the start of the series and it looks like it had a major effect on the team’s confidence and morale as Game 2 ended with a 132-98 blowout win for Milwaukee.
The Bucks shot lights out right from the tip-off and matched an NBA record with 10 three-pointers in the opening quarter. After making only five triples in Game 1, Milwaukee then went on to drop 22 three-point bombs on Miami posting a new playoff franchise record.
It wasn’t the first time they embarrassed Miami from downtown either as Milwaukee posted a new NBA record with 29 made three-pointers in a regular-season matchup between the two in December.
Guarding the three-point line better will clearly be a goal for Miami in Game 3. They also need their stars to turn up, which wasn’t the case in the previous meeting with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo combining for only 26 points. Butler has so far averaged just 13.5 points per game in the series and that simply isn’t good enough.
The five-time All-Star has always elevated his game come playoff time and Miami badly needs it to happen again to have a shot at an upset in the matchup.
Stopping the Bucks, of course, isn’t an easy task with Giannis Antetokounmpo running amok and dominating at both ends of the court. However, Butler and the Heat did a great job against him in last year’s Conference semifinals with head coach Eric Spoelstra showing off his good ability to make adjustments. He now has to pull out all of his tricks to turn the series around.
